Rear Suspension & Safety Devices

With some help from my neighbor for a couple of hours we were able to reinstall the torsion tube assembly. Lots of pushing and prodding as it was tight fit with all new Weltmeister bushings. We had to use several PWST (Porsche Wooden Suspension Tool) to get the jacks to give some persuasion. Two floor jacks is a necessity for this job.

I also tapped and bolted a tab to each torsion bar to ease in ride height adjustment. Otherwise known as torsion bar reindexing. SVO Chuck came over and gave it the OK and helped me reindex the bars, it took 5 minutes in the rain, to get to a ride height of 5.5 inches at the rockers. I can now corner balance the car.

Inside, I bolted in the harnesses and the right side net. The right side net is held to the firewall by an eyebolt with fender washer backings. I also installed a fire extinguisher mount where I could reach it while belted in. This will have to do until I can save up for a true fire system. 

I believe I will drive it to work on Monday if the weather allows.

BreakFAST with Porsches. PCA Parade in Keystone, CO

Played hooky from work this morning and blasted up to Keystone with a friend to check out the PCA concours. Beautiful, no traffic, drive up and over Loveland Pass. Really nice cars. A great morning and back in Denver in time for my 1:00 meeting.

Coal Miner or Bushing Remover.

The answer is bushing remover. More on that in a bit.

You can see from the pic that it is good I am replacing the bushings. Very worn.

I first tackled the front of the torsion tube carrier. This was simple. Cut off the rubber "ring", then get something metal that is the size of the inner metal portion of the OE bushing and whack away. Out in minutes.

Getting the old rubber off the spring plate bushings was just as miserable as everything I read said it would be. Razor blade. Wire wheel. Lots of rubber dust.

End result of the weekend. Exhaustion.

Torsion Bar Removal

Began the oft discussed, oft dreaded, oft reviled torsion bar and bushing replacement today. Solo.

My mechanic is in Australia. And by mechanic, I mean my only friend who knows how to wrench on cars.

I took it really slow. Got the unit out in about 7 hours. And I mean slow. But it did take 2 hours to clean all the gunk off the axles so they could be removed without worrying about stripping the bolts.

Also, another hour spent figuring out a way to stop the brake lines from leaking. What I wound up doing was epoxying shout a 10 x1.00 bleeder valve and stuck that in the end of the stainless line. No leaking. 

The unit looks massive with trailing arms attached but probably only weighs around 150 pounds. Not too bad to muscle around by ones self. The wife is preggers, so I can't even ask her for help anymore. 

I did decide to delete the e-brake. Just more stuff to worry about and the car is a dedicated track car now. As I type my hands and back are feeling a bit arthritic, so we'll see how it goes in the AM when I tackle removing the old bushings and installing the new.

Let me end with, this is not that hard of a job. Do it if you have been procrastinating.

Rocky Balboa is the Pontiac G8 GT

Indulge me here for a minute. I watched Rocky Balboa aka Rocky 6, last night. I enjoyed it. But, it got me thinking, what with all the GM static on the news, that Rocky 6 was not unlike say the new Pontiac G8 GT.

Rocky 6 was overlooked because Rocky 4 and 5 did so much damage to the franchise. Not unlike the 1985 Parisienne (the car that launched a thousand donks) or the 1993 Lemans. Cars that GM and especially Pontiac built had over the years made the brand irrelevant. So even when the they came out with a 360 horsepower rear wheel driver sedan that thrills the driver, no one cares. Like a tree falling in a forest, no one hears it if no one is around. 

So, buy a G8 GT if you are in the market, you can get a good deal. And, watch Rocky Balboa, its a sympathetic, fun, nostalgic film.